Appeal No. 97-3290
Application 08/465,896
patent, with the adequate notice demanded
by due process of law, so that they may
more readily and accurately determine the
boundaries of protection involved and
evaluate the possibility of infringement
and dominance.
Additionally, claims are considered to be definite, as
required by the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112, when they
define the metes and bounds of a claimed invention with a
reasonable degree of precision and particularity. See In re
Venezia, 530 F.2d 956, 958, 189 USPQ 149, 151 (CCPA 1976).
Independent claim 21 requires, inter alia, an amount of
surface effective agent effective to reduce urine odor as
determined by the “Surface-Active Agent Effectiveness Test as
described herein.” This test further encompasses the “Odor5
Perception Test” (specification, pages 12 and 13).
This panel of the board discussed, supra, the subjective
nature of the specified tests and the circumstance that the
identity, qualifications, and spectrum of odor perceptions of
5In our view, one would have understood that the language “as described herein”
referred to the description in the underlying specification.
11
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007